I love when he opens up to her.

oh wow this was emotional
I am so sorry for young Rick and there might be tears please send help

but I am so happy that he felt comfortable enough to tell her about this oh my god it's so good

I love it omg

-Anja

Hahaha of course they laughed at him, that was so pathetic

Ohhhhh, that left me a little breathless as he opened himself up and let her inside.
beautiful
thanks

Great story telling. Thank you

So cool! Loved it!

I love this story soooo much. It's rare that anyone would delve into Rick's story. And then, to make it so good, so heartbreaking... I just can't put into words how moved I am. He's so compelled by Poe's writing, he just can't believe others don't feel the same. Even as a boy, Castle was deep and searching for something, something he found in literature, because he couldn't find it in his home life.

A great way to explain how he went from loner/bullied/outcast kid to charming/funny/popular guy. (Probably growing into his looks didn't hurt, either.)

(Also, I'd give a pretty penny to hear Castle/NF read "The Raven". unf.)

Glad that Kate treasured his openness, treating his wounded, embarrassed psyche tenderly and reverently. So beautiful.

I've heard rumors that this season Beckett will have issues with Castle having his own walls. I hope that they can be as deep and tenderly resolved as you have written.

Thank you, and your wife for writing something so lovely and original.

Yet another well written story (you seem to have a lot of them). This is definitely a different take on both Castle himself and his relationship with Beckett - really enjoyable.

One small detail issue though: I'm not a physician, but a cut that runs the length of the thigh, especially one that would expose the bone, would require a LOT more than 10 stitches to close. Minor nit, but still ...

Onward to more of your work (can't stop reading them).

Love this one! So beautifully sweet!

(I just started reading yourother fics today and can't seem to stop reading them! Awesome Christmas gift!)

I love you too my Baby! Well done, I'm proud!

In the words of Martha, Oh you great beautiful creature you!
Storytelling from Castle's own experience and POV, so raw and so pure and true all at the same time. Just beautiful. All the live just seeping from both of their entire beings. Ahhh, sigh...
I have to say too, that your dedication at the end also melted my heart :) even though I don't know you, you are both beautiful, beautiful creatures :)

This was brilliant hun. I suspect you're not wrong about Castle's roots- it's so easy to picture him as that quiet, earnest young boy who was so in love with the words and the feeling that he just had to share it in the hopes that somebody besides him would get it. And wow, just everything about this, the honesty and openness without losing that playful aspect about them- all of this works so well. I love it.

Oh - oh boy.

This was so gut-wrenchingly moving, so very beautiful.

This forray into Castle's past is all the more interesting as we don't know that much about his past, his formative years. This is also indicative of great relationship growth, seeing as it can't have been easy sharing these painful memories. Total trust would have been a prerequisite. :)

I love your take on this. Hopefully, we'll see something like it in the show sometime soon, and if they do it half as well as you did (and I trust they will), I'll be a happy fan.

Nice and poetic.

Wow, that was great. I love picturing Castle as the nerdy kid who was so 'left of centre' he got teased and bullied in school. Such a change from the arrogant front he put on in the beginning. Here we all were saying how many layers the 'Beckett onion' has, what about the 'Castle onion' - so many layers!